Genetics of Reaction Norms of Arabidopsis

植物对环境变化的反应可能对生存和繁殖至关重要，特别是在压力条件下。“反应规范”一词是指生物体（实际的和潜在的）对环境变化的反应。这些对环境的反应的本质是受遗传控制的，有几种控制可以表现出来。遗传控制的形式很重要，因为它将决定选择，无论是在野外还是在农业中，是否可以改变植物对环境因素（如光、水、营养或食草动物）变化的反应方式。正在进行的实验将利用拟南芥模式植物系统揭示对土壤养分梯度反应的遗传成分。此外，我们将对拟南芥种群施加人工选择制度，以确定这些植物改变其反应规范的能力，即改变其对营养水平变化的反应能力。这两组实验的结果将更好地理解反应规范的遗传决定，以及选择如何改变反应规范。当我们试图评估全球环境变化对野生和农业植物物种的影响时，这种理解可能变得越来越重要。

Plants' responses to changes in their environments may be crucial for survival and reproduction, particularly under stressful conditions. The term 'reaction norm' refers to the responses of an organism (actual and potential) to environmental variation. The nature of these responses to the environment is under genetic control, and there are several ways that control can be manifested. The form of the genetic control is important because it will determine whether selection, either in the wild or in agriculture, can alter the ways that plants respond to changes in environmental factors such as light, water, nutrients or herbivores. The experiments being undertaken will reveal the genetic components of response to a gradient in soil nutrients, using a model plant system, Arabidopsis thaliana. In addition, we will impose a regime of artificial selection on Arabidopsis populations to determine the ability of these plants to alter their reaction norms, that is, to change their abilities to respond to changes in the level of nutrients. The results of these two sets of experiments will provide a better understanding of the genetic determination of reaction norms, and of how selection may operate to change reaction norms. Such an understanding may become increasingly important as we try to evaluate the impact of global environmental change on both wild and agricultural plant species.